“In the final days of this legislative session, we implore the Assembly to join their Senate colleagues in passing this critical piece of legislation and finally correct this fundamental injustice.”

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, Jr., and NOW-NYC President Sonia Ossorio wrote an op-ed in City and State calling on the New York State Assembly to close the voluntary intoxication loophole in New York State law that creates an unjustly high bar for prosecuting rape and sexual assault cases by passing A1065. 

The authors write, “It is not morally okay and it should not be legally permissible to have sex with someone who is so intoxicated that they cannot reasonably consent. There should be consequences for that behavior. But New York state law fails to adequately protect those individuals. That needs to change.” 

They call on lawmakers to “address the voluntary intoxication exclusion in New York state – a gap in New York’s penal law that creates an unjustly high bar to hold perpetrators of rape and sexual assault accountable.” 

Asserting that “If we are serious about protecting New Yorkers from sexual assault, we must update our laws to fit the reality of the crimes that are occurring,” the authors conclude, “In the final days of this legislative session, we implore the Assembly to join their Senate colleagues in passing this critical piece of legislation and finally correct this fundamental injustice.” 

Read the full op-ed here. 

###